We went to the Lazy Daze factory for some repairs to damage caused by a bad installation of the satellite dish for Internet and for a redoing of some cosmetic repairs made from damage in bumping into a tree. While in California we were able to visit with my niece, Claire, and her family and with Wanda Shaffer, a friend of mine from my Einstein year in Washington, DC.
We left for our trip to the Lazy Daze factory in Los Angeles on Monday, October 19, 2009. Unfortunately we had to leave my brother, Bob, and Helaine when they might have been able to spend more time with us on their way to Belize. They picked up Lola and we met in Starkville at Pepper’s before we picked up Frodo and left from there. They went to Jackson and we headed for Memphis where I bought a new power cord for my laptop. We need to remember that it is very slow to drive from Starkville to Memphis on the back roads. Tom and I then drove on to West Memphis and the Tom Sawyer Mississippi River RV Park. Unfortunately it was almost dark when we got there after stopping for a few groceries, but our site was right on the Mississippi River. ($30.00) 
In the larger image, our Lazy Daze is seen at the far end of the line of RV’s. There were nice wide open spaces along the river with benches where one could sit and watch the river. The next morning we had a beautiful sunrise over the river—I even woke up enough to see it.
Tuesday, October 20, 2009—Thanks to Frodo we were awake early. It had it’s advantages though because seeing the lights of Memphis across the river before sunrise and then seeing the sunrise were worth it. Tom took Frodo for a walk and fixed his breakfast, but I went back to sleep. There were barges passing on the river. 
However, we were able to leave by 9:00, which is relatively early for us. We drove pretty hard and made about 350 miles before camping in Checotah, Oklahoma. We’re less than 100 miles from Oklahoma City and may be able to get there in time to have the RV washed. it really needs it. We are staying at a KOA tonight and it is also a very nice park. ($28) There’s another nice grassy area in which to walk Frodo. He seems a little more active than we was on the last trip, but mostly he’s being good.
Wednesday, October 21, 2009—We left relatively early again for us—about 9:00—and easily made it to Oklahoma City by noon. In fact, it was only about 11:00. They had told us about two hours to wash the RV, but it ended up being more like three. It has been raining constantly, although not hard. We all waited in the waiting room of the McClain RV Center while they washed our RV. Frodo enjoyed having many people pet him, and one man brought pop corn—which Frodo really likes. The man gave Frodo some, but I ended up getting a sack for Frodo and me to share! They did a pretty good job of washing l’Escargot Rouge, but didn’t clean the area under the overhang that is so difficult to reach and did not wax or polish it. After they finished, we drove on about another 100 miles to Elk Creek Oklahoma and stayed in the Elk Creek RV Park. ($24.25) It was a Good Sam park and was nice. The creek did run right through the park. For some reason the satellite would not lock on to the signal although there was no obvious impediment. However, there were heavy clouds. I tried again on Thursday morning and although the receiver locked on, the transmitter never did.
Thursday, October 22, 2009—We’re going to try to camp in Tucumcari and eat at a restaurant we remember tonight. It’s not raining, and the sun is trying to break through the clouds, but it’s cold. Tom forgot to pack his jacket and has been somewhat cold. We emptied the tanks this morning in the cold. There have been fewer and fewer trees since Oklahoma City, and now that we’re in Texas, almost the only trees are in the gullies or around houses. We stopped at a rest stop at which we’ve stopped before. It’s on top of a rise and has a well designed building with some historical information inside. The star is actually a hole in the façade of the building. I tried to get a picture with Tom and Frodo in it, but I missed the first time and it was too cold for them to stay outside for another. 
We made it to Tucumcari and the KOA that we remembered. It’s under new management, but improved. The wi-fi actually works well! ($36.23) We checked in early in the afternoon after a quick driving tour of Tucumcari. The biggest change we noticed was the windmill in the middle of town. The proprietor of the KOA told us that the windmill could supply enough electricity for 500 homes. I had a conference call with PBS, but we went to Del’s Restaurant after that and enjoyed the food again. This is where we started learning a little about southwestern cooking. Frodo has been very active yesterday and today. He seems to feel better, but he’s a little more restless than he has been before.
Friday, October 23, 2009—As Tom started walking Frodo this morning our next door neighbor stopped him to ask if she could see inside our RV. He sent her to me, and, of course, I showed her around. She and her brother were traveling together and were from Texas. We were relatively early leaving again—about 9:15—mostly because Frodo woke us up at 5:30. We’re hoping he won’t make a habit of that! Right before Albuquerque we were stopped in a traffic hold-up because of the wreck of an 18-wheeler according to what the truckers were saying on the CB. It was apparently a really bad wreck. We had to leave the Interstate at the first exit, but were able to get back on the Interstate after a few miles and almost made it to Arizona. There was a Flying C Ranch along the way, and there must have been 20-30 billboards on both sides of the road advertising it.
We stopped at a KOA in Gallup, NM. ($37.55) It seems to be an all right campground, but it’s all urban. The entire yard is gravel with no really good place to walk Frodo.
Saturday, October 24, 2009—We were on the road early again, mostly thanks to Frodo. It was 9:00, but because we gained an hour it was really 8:00 and turned out to be a good thing. We ended up driving more than 500 miles to Barstow, CA—partly because there were no campgrounds for about the last 100 miles. It was only 6:30 when we reached Barstow, and we stayed in a campground run by two brothers that we had stayed in before—Shady Lane RV Camp ($22.50).
Tom remembered Barstow, but even I remembered the campground after I saw it. It seemed to be completely full, and I was glad I’d called ahead. We drove through several different terrains, but the last part is extremely arid. There are cacti, but they are not dense. Since we drove so far today, we don’t have far to go tomorrow to get to our campground in LA and should have time to do laundry. I’m going to try to call Claire, but I’m not sure we’ll be able to see them.
Sunday, October 25, 2009—Nice! We had less than 100 miles to drive to get to our campground. Neither of us realized how close we were last night. We were at the campground before noon, and they let us go ahead and check in. We did our laundry as we ate lunch and walked Frodo so that we were ready for a nap by about 1:30. After that we went to the next door RV show that was in its last day. The RV park gave us two tickets for it. Tom sometimes says he wants a Class A motorhome, but the more we look, the happier I am with what we have. The Class A that we both liked best was one that is made in Red Bay, Alabama. I think it’s the same one that Carol and Steve Wright have—an Allegra. We’ll go to Wanda’s tomorrow after lunch and we may get to see Claire tomorrow. We’re staying at the Fairplex KOA in Pomona ($50) less than five miles from the Lazy Daze factory. It’s a nice place although very crowded, but well thought out with a decent dog walk.
Monday, October 26, 2009—We were nice and close to the Lazy Daze factory, but were still almost late for our 10:00 appointment. We took Frodo to the Pomona Valley Animal Hospital, which may or may not have been the one at which I reserved a place. They had not heard of him, but they had a vacancy so it wasn’t a problem. We have to hope that they’ll take good care of him, but it seemed like a nice place. The girl who registered him was Ericka and she told us to call if we wished. They are supposed to walk him twice a day. We then went to the Lazy Daze factory to be on time. We had thought we could get Hertz to come get us there, but they gave us a bit of a run-around and we ended up having to ask Todd to take us and then having to wait a little while for him. Vince wrote down all our repairs and said he hoped to be finished in three days. We’re to keep in touch. We then picked up our car and called Claire to tell her that we were on the way. We saw her and the girls and met Jackie, her live-in nanny. Claire fixed us sandwiches for lunch and we were able to visit for awhile—and watch the girls swim in their pool. Claire was making Halloween costumes as modeled by Grace below. Katherine can swim pretty well. We left there to go to Wanda’s—which took about 45 minutes. Wanda took us out to eat at an Italian restaurant that we have probably seen before, and we went to bed early.
Tuesday, October 27, 2009—Wanda had a meeting this morning, so Tom and I lazed around the house. I played with my computer and the new PBS class, and he worked on his railroad drawing. Wanda called to say that she’d be late returning, so Tom and I went to Subway for a sandwich. Wanda and I went to the Apple store for me to return the power cable I’d bought in Memphis since I found my old one. We made an appointment for me for tomorrow to get help with my iPhone since I’m having trouble getting calls to go out sometimes. We all went to a Peruvian restaurant for supper.
Wednesday, October 28, 2009—We ate breakfast at Wanda’s. She fixed a delicious breakfast of eggs with sausage and avocado. Then we went to the Apple store for my appointment—which we almost forgot. We were late and had to reschedule it. After finding out how to transfer the photos to the phone—since restoring the software seemed to fix my problem—we left and went to the Bower Museum for an art exhibit. After the museum we returned to Wanda’s for a light lunch. Tom and I took a nap, and Wanda went to a meeting that she had this evening. When she returned, we went to eat. Wanda took us to the Summit to eat and it was delicious. We all had John Dory fish with macadamia nuts on top.
Thursday, October 29, 2009—We ate breakfast at Wanda’s. Wanda had to take something to one of her friends and was a little later getting back than she’d meant to be. We had tuna sandwiches for lunch—with sweet pickles—and I found that I can enjoy tuna again after getting turned off by it while I was pregnant many years ago. Afterward, Wanda and I went to the Huntington Library to see their bonsai exhibit. 
The exhibit was in the Japanese garden, but as we walked in the Chinese garden later, Wanda started talking with a man who volunteered there and he took us to see the bonsai in the back of the garden, showed us where the addition to the garden would be, and explained to us about Chinese “bonsai” which have a different name and which are being added to the Chinese garden. 
We were late getting back because of the traffic. We ate at Florentine’s Down Town Grill—almost a bar, but pretty good.
Friday, October 30, 2009—When I called Vince at Lazy Daze he was almost sure that he would have the RV finished today, so we packed up and started getting ready to leave. We took the car back first. Hertz had someone drive us back to Lazy Daze where we waited until almost 4:30 for the RV, but it was finished then. We left and went to get Frodo at the vet and then drove about 40 miles out of town to Hesperia to the Desert Willow RV Park. It was Good Sam and a very nice park. ($32) If we should come back to LA, it would be a good place to stop—better than Barstow.
Saturday, October 31, 2009—We had thought about doing laundry this morning, but decided we could wait. We did empty the tanks and it was a little later than we’d thought it would be before we left for Death Valley. It was also a longer drive than we’d thought it was, so it was late in the afternoon before we arrived. I was afraid that we’d have trouble finding a campsite, but we didn’t. Once we found the campground, we went in, and there were several sites left. We didn’t have time to do anything but to enjoy the almost full moon by sitting outside in our chairs before going to bed.
Sunday, November 1, 2009—We were up relatively early, and by the time we left someone was at the ranger’s kiosk at the park entrance so we were able to pay for last night and reserve and pay for tonight ($9/night). We went to the Visitors’ Center to get directions and a map and then drove to Badwater, which is the lowest area of the park and is where all the water from the valley drains. The water then evaporates, so that only 
the salt is usually left. It’s about 280 feet below sea level. We walked out onto the Badwater Basin amid all the salt on a well walked path and then returned to the RV to eat lunch. It was hard to get the salt off our feet, and I had to sweep it out of the RV twice. We then went to Scotty’s Castle, which was over an hour’s drive from the Visitors’ Center.
There was a wonderful set of stairs leading up to guest rooms in what they called the annex. We were able to have a tour of the house by a talented story teller, who was also a ranger, and then drove back to the campground. Unfortunately it was after dark by the time we returned to the campground and we had only an hour in which we could run the generator—cook supper and check things on the Internet—before quiet time.
Monday, November 2, 2009—Frodo is doing better about sleeping, but it’s partly because Tom is getting up earlier I think. We went by the Harmony Borax Mine 
and the Visitor Center before leaving. On the way out, we stopped at a viewpoint from which we could see the Badwater Basin about 2000 feet below us and the RV back in the parking lot. 
I bought a T-shirt and an owl, and Tom bought a CD. We then drove past Las Vegas and stopped rather early (about 3:30) so that we’d have time to do our laundry and buy groceries. It was nice to stop early. We spent the night at Canyon Trail Campground in Boulder City ($27)—another Good Sam and very nice. Tom liked the showers. We had a small accident when Tom and Frodo came back from walking. Frodo had picked up something near the dump. When I was getting it out of his mouth and he tried to hold it in his mouth, he bit my finger.
Tuesday, November 3, 2009—We left for Flagstaff, and I called Kathryn Parker to see if she could see us. She could, so we decided to spend the night there and take her to supper. We headed for Flagstaff without realizing that we would cross Hoover Dam at Lake Mead or how close it was to Boulder City. We had crossed Hoover Dam and visited the Dam when we picked up the RV five years ago. This time we just crossed over, marveled at the new bridge they are building, and kept going. Kathryn told us later that we were lucky not to have to wait for a couple of hours to pass through. 
They did have to search us before we could go over the Dam. We reached Flagstaff about 3:30, but had a little trouble with Kathryn’s address because the GPS did not know it until we thought to put just the street without the number. She took us downtown to see a little of the city and then to a sushi restaurant, which was good. We spent the night in the RV in her driveway, but we used her shower and enjoyed it.
Wednesday, November 4, 2009—We said goodbye to Kathryn although she left for work before we left. We then took her suggestion to drive to Sedona by way of Oak Creek Canyon—a beautiful drive. 
We stopped at a visitor center that had Native American crafts and had fun buying some—even breaking our rule and buying something for each grandchild. Oak Creek Canyon had very high walls with much rock, some red, but with real trees. There is water and some of the canyon did not look at all like desert. We stopped in 
Sedona for lunch, but it was rather mediocre. We did get to sit outside and watch the people. There was also an interesting statue across the road of a man and a little girl. The little girl looked very much like a real little girl from where we were sitting. We then drove on to Tucson to the Prince of Tucson RV Park ($28.32).
Thursday, November 5, 2009—Another relatively early start for us! We were on the road by 9:00. All day when we looked at the GPS it seemed that we were 1100 miles from home, which was rather discouraging. It does seem to be longer to go by I10 
and I20 than by I40, but we wanted to go a different way. There were places were the scenery was beautiful—or impressive!—especially a rocky area soon before we left Arizona and reached New Mexico, but there was a lot of desert, too. One rest area in New Mexico had a giant road runner statue. We drove late—partly because we lost an hour—and arrived in Van Horn Texas at the Eagle’s Nest RV Park ($27) about 7:30. I had called ahead and the manager came out to meet us although he’d closed the office. He was able to tell us which site to take and help us with registration. It’s another Good Sam Park. They’re almost always good—so far.
Friday, November 6, 2009—We took a few minutes this morning to play with Frodo in the dog yard at the campground. It was one of the nicest we’d seen, and he enjoyed playing with his Frisbee and just running in circles. He stayed quieter than usual all day, so the exercise must have been good for him. We started at about 9:00 and drove pretty steadily although we did manage a stand still nap—rather than just my napping while Tom drove. He says he can’t sleep in the back while we are moving, although he does sometimes. The country was pretty boring. The most exciting thing of the day was thousands (I think) of windmills around Sweetwater. They are pretty impressive. We stopped for the night at another Good Same right past Abilene—Abilene RV Park ($27). Before parking we went grocery shopping and then since there was a Cracker Barrel right there and we hadn’t eaten at one on this trip, we had to eat supper there.